Browsed by
Tag: housing market

Strengthening data push construction forecasters towards greater optimism

Strengthening data push construction forecasters towards greater optimism

Construction industry forecasters have been busily upgrading their forecasts in the light of a turnaround in industry fortunes since Spring. Despite all raising their expectations for the future path of construction, at first glance the forecasts from Construction Products Association, Experian and Hewes appear to be telling very different stories. That certainly seems to be the take-away message from the graph. In some ways they are telling different tales, but in reality there’s more similarity than meets the eye. One…

Read More Read More

Searching for a Higgs Boson to explain the unsolved problems of the housing market

Searching for a Higgs Boson to explain the unsolved problems of the housing market

Over the past few months, particularly the past few days, I have bathed in data, ideas, business models, policies and blue sky thinking on how we can deliver more housing in the UK. This was the central theme running through yesterday’s Housing Market Intelligence conference. It was the broad thread that tied together the expert analyses in the associated Housing Market Intelligence report, which I edit. It was also the basic question that underpinned an Institute of Economic Development London…

Read More Read More

Non-resi building sector could be hardest hit as house builders suck hard on the supply chain

Non-resi building sector could be hardest hit as house builders suck hard on the supply chain

The resurgence of house building has brought with it fears of a supply chain so stretched that we will see shortages appearing, production held back and costs rising. There’s almost certainly something in this. It seems to be common currency. As I’ve discussed before, there are emerging problems with the supply of bricks and labour. And EC Harris, for example, has picked up early signs that prices of materials associated with house building are rising faster than the average for…

Read More Read More

The official construction figures add to the growing case for cautious optimism

The official construction figures add to the growing case for cautious optimism

The latest construction output figures provide yet more reasons to suspect that the industry may be pulling itself out of its slough. This evidence is reinforced by the release of the newly-constituted new orders figures. The construction output data for July show the index of construction activity has risen to its highest level since last October. This measure, which is seasonally adjusted and deflated to account for price changes, stood in July at 95.5 against 100 in 2010. This may…

Read More Read More

Has the Government found a cure for the disease afflicting the housing market?

Has the Government found a cure for the disease afflicting the housing market?

The short answer to the question in the headline is no. The slightly longer answer requires a question: It depends what you mean by the housing market? But, as that sounds like obfuscation, the most honest answer I can come up with is that while the housing market may appear to be in remission the disease is spreading. I say this because we’ve had such a welter of “good news” on the housing front recently that you’d could be forgiven…

Read More Read More

Reading the runes of the RICS construction survey and finding optimism elsewhere

Reading the runes of the RICS construction survey and finding optimism elsewhere

Today I read headlines suggesting the recovery in construction is on its way. Ultimately it is, but when? The cause of the excitement was the RICS construction market survey, which comes hard on the heels of lots of seemingly more favourable data. The RICS survey is a useful tool and potentially a good early indicator of the fortunes of the wider construction industry. But the data need to be interpreted with caution. So while many of the indicators in the…

Read More Read More

Is it time for housing policy to pay more heed to the costs and the benefits of location?

Is it time for housing policy to pay more heed to the costs and the benefits of location?

Location, location, location. They may be the oldest three rules in the property world. But do we need to take those rules more seriously in housing policy? When I owned a flat in Islington, London, in the 1990s I was surprised just how little the insurance cover was for the building relative to the potential sale price. It covered little more than the value of any one of the four flats into which the building was divided. Even back then…

Read More Read More

Build more student accommodation, free up homes for families – good idea

Build more student accommodation, free up homes for families – good idea

There seems to be too few easy options for relieving the housing crisis at the moment and certainly too few win-win options. It’s unlikely we’ll find a single solution to the mess we find ourselves in and the answers may not necessarily be solely found in building more houses, but using those we have better. So one thought that has fascinated me for ages is whether building more bespoke student accommodation to release rented private homes could be one. Well…

Read More Read More

Signs of recovery and the cost of missed opportunities in the housing market

Signs of recovery and the cost of missed opportunities in the housing market

The latest housing market data all point to a recovery. Mortgage approvals measured over three months are at a three-year high. Prices are rising. Sales are more buoyant. Starts appear to be on the way up. Indeed more positive wider economic news of late no doubt has helped underpin a sense of confidence, while the periodic scares from the Euro area seem to create less fear each time they come into focus and fade again. The improved housing statistics should…

Read More Read More

Punch drunk construction finds a prop in rich investors in London housing

Punch drunk construction finds a prop in rich investors in London housing

Yes folks the construction industry is partying like it was 1999. Sounds like fun, but sadly it means that all the growth achieved this century has been wiped out. And while we metaphorically vomit into the punch bowl, here’s a thought to sober us up. If it wasn’t for rich foreign and indeed rich British investors pumping cash into London residential property the construction industry would probably be closing in on a drop of nearer to a quarter from peak…

Read More Read More